Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM)
EE290F 22 April 2004 Shanna Crankshaw
ATM definition
"A transfer mode in which information is organized into cells; it is asynchronous in the sense that the recurrence of cells containing information from an individual user is not necessarily periodic".
What is it really?
Fast packet switching, high data rates
Low-level network layerabove physical layer, below AAL (ATM adaptation layer) Single transport mechanism for different types of traffic (voice, data, video, etc.) Streamlined protocol, minimal error and flow control capabilities Fixed packet size = ATM cell
Simplified processing, management
Synchronous Transfer Mode
Pre-assigned slots, frame boundaries, global timing Slots identified by position from the start of the frame BW allocated in units of slots Idle slots wasted Efficient for Constant Bit Rate traffic
Contrast with STM
Bandwidth on demandSlots assigned on demand, users take any empty slot Nothing pre-assigned, no global timing Slot Cell, fixed size of 53 bytes Arbitrary bit rates: can support T-1 using CBR, voice/video using real-time VBR, IPbased traffic using ABR and UBR, etc. Each cell must be self-identifying (overhead)
ATM cell contents
Header 5 bytes General Flow Control (GFC) traffic control for different QoS, alleviates short-term overloads VPI routing field for network VCI routing to/from user Payload type Cell loss priority (CLP) Header error control (HEC) can correct single bit errors in header Information 48 bytes
Stallings, Data & Computer Communications, 6th ed., Table 11.2
PT coding ______________Interpretation____________
000 001 010 011 100 101 110 111 User data cell, congestion not experienced, SDU type=0 User data cell, congestion not experienced, SDU type=1 User data cell, congestion experienced, SDU type=0 User data cell, congestion experienced, SDU type=1 OAM segment associated cell OAM end-to-end associated cell Resource management cell Reserved for future function
SDU = Service Data Unit OAM = Operations, Administration, and Maintenance
ATM Cells
Small size, may reduce queuing delay of high priority cells Fixed size, more efficient switching
UNI
GFC VP identifier VC identifier PT
CLP
NNI
VP identifier
VP identifier
5-byte header
VC identifier PL type CLP Header error control
Header error control
53 byte cell
Info field, 48 bytes
Info field, 48 bytes
VCs are not always VCs
Virtual Channel Transmission is connection-oriented
VC set up by some signaling protocol before any cells can be sent
Virtual channels
Physical channel Virtual path
Virtual Path Connection (VPC), bundle of VCCs
Logical connections
VPC = bundle of VCCs with the same endpoints all switched together Network management of group of connections, not many individual ones Setup time is for a VP, adding VCs to it involves minimal processing
Request for VCC originates
VPC exists?
Yes
Can QoS be satisfied?
No
Yes
No
Establish new VPC
Block VCC or request more capacity
Request granted?
No
Yes
Make connection
Reject VCC request
ATM Adaptation Layer (AAL)
AAL user CS
AAL
SAR sublayer ATM layer
Layer above ATM Service dependent Mask ATM specifics from user; universality
Physical layer
SAR: segmentation and reassembly. Translates service data from a non-ATM format into ATM cells, then back again at destination CS: convergence sublayer. Takes care of delay jitter, error checking, remove corrupted cells
ATM Service Categories
Real-time services
Constant bit rate uncompressed audio/video info
Videoconferencing, TV, pay-per-view, VOD, etc.
rt-Variable bit rate nrt-VBR high end system QoS, critical response time
Non-real-time services
Bank transactions, airline reservations, etc. e.g. text/image messaging, telecommuting
Unspecified bit rate best-effort service
Available bit rate bursty apps requiring reliable endto-end connection
e.g. LAN, router-to-router reliability
ATM advantages
Universality
Mixed traffic types, real-time and non-real-time LANs, MANs, WANs, WLANs
Scalability
Efficient use of network resources Bandwidth on demand concept Simplified network infrastructure
ATM challenges
In-network mux/buffering can lead to cell delay or loss QoS guarantees Many types of traffic Large geographic distribution
Traffic modeling, control
